


Big Brother's Dilemna

by Meiilan



Series: Big Brother Gabriel [2]
Category: Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: M/M, the long awaited sequel, warning: brief mentioning of fatphobia and homophobia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-23
Updated: 2019-07-23
Packaged: 2020-07-11 17:57:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19932157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meiilan/pseuds/Meiilan
Summary: This is a the promised sequel to my other story "Big Brother's Lament". Once Gabriel found out about Aziraphale's romantic pursuit, he had set himself on a new goal, in that one-track-mind kinda way that is so typical for him.





	Big Brother's Dilemna

**Author's Note:**

> I highly recommend to read my other fanfiction "Big Brother's Lament" first, since this story starts almost right after the other one ends.

“Gabriel, a word please?”

Gabriel, about to leave Heaven for yet another trip to earth, stopped dead in his tracks, when he heard Michael’s voice in his back. By the time, he turned around to them, he had successfully manage to replace the expression of guilt on his face, with his usual, confident smile.

“Of course! What do you need of me?”

Michael cast a cautious look around first, assuring themselves there was nobody else in the hall, before they answered, their voice lowered in a tone that could almost be considered as conspiratory.

“I didn’t mean to snoop, but I couldn’t help but notice, that you have been making frequent trips to earth recently and upon further… consideration I realized, that you were specifically tailing the Principality Aziraphale. I was of the impression, that we have a non-involvement agreement with him. Is there a specific reason, you felt the need to break that agreement? Is the Principality Aziraphale posing a threat to us?”

Gabriel could feel panic making the hairs on his neck stand. He was cornered. He could not truly tell Michael what the reason for his most recent trips was, but lying was out of the question too. And knowing Michael, they would not let go of it until they got a satisfactory answer. They were like one of those tenacious dogs in that aspect, the ones that wouldn’t let go once they bit down on something. What was their name again? Mine oxes? Well, something like that at least.

And they were still staring expectantly at Gabriel, while his mind had gone off on that tangent instead of coming up with a satisfactory explanation for his behavior.

“Leave him be, Michael.”

Raphael’s voice calling over from the other end of the hall, startled Gabriel so much, he almost jumped. Good grief, why was he so on edge recently? Michael looked surprised too, but didn’t by far react as startled, as they turned around to face the other archangel approaching him.

“Archangel Raphael”, they greeted with an inquiring tone, already expecting him to explain himself.

“If Gabriel had reason to believe, he needed our involvement in this, he would have called upon us for support. Since he feels content to observe the situation on his own, I do not think any of us have reason to concern ourselves with this.” The calm and confident tone in Raphael’s voice seemed to put Michael at ease, as they simply nodded and then bid them both goodbye to return to their own duties.

“Well then”, Gabriel said, feeling oddly awkward in the presence of the heavenly healer. He still vividly remembered their last exchange, shortly before Aziraphale left the Heavenly Offices for indefinite times. “I… better be on my way then.”

Raphael, who had been looking after the leaving form of Michael, turned back to Gabriel and their eyes met briefly. “You do that.” His expression was warmer this time, almost approving. Gabriel felt his guilt worsen at that. It was no secret in Heavens, that Raphael was all for forgiveness and reconciliation. But reconciling with Aziraphale wasn’t on Gabriel’s mind, when he went on those trips, at least not on the forefront of his mind. If all this led to Aziraphale wanting to reconcile with his big bro-, with his superior, Gabriel would certainly welcome such a positive development. But it was not at all the reason, why he recently felt the need to repeatedly check in on Aziraphale. He couldn’t tell Raphael that, however. So instead he smiled, waved and left for earth.

This time his trip brought him into a fancy restaurant. From previous encounters Gabriel recognized it as what Aziraphale called “The Ritz”. Knowing that he certainly wouldn’t have to wait long for something of interest to happen, he sat down at a single-chair table, that had a little sign spelling ‘reserved’ on it. The sheer amount of ignorant confidence the archangel exuded as he did so, convinced a great number of very baffle waiters that there was absolutely nothing wrong with it, or with the fact that he stubbornly refused to order something from the menu.

As expected, soon enough a still fairly confused waiter led Aziraphale and Crowley to a nearby table. Gladly none of them seemed to notice Gabriel sitting a few feet away from them. The next hour was spent rather uneventful with Aziraphale and Crowley chatting amiably about arbitrary topics, while several dishes were delivered to and then consumed by a very happy looking Aziraphale. Gabriel watched it all in rapt attention, but his main focus wasn’t on the angel. It was on the demon at his side. Crowley hadn’t engaged in the act of consuming any of the food that had been served, but instead kept to drinking the wine, that came with each dish, all while staring unwaveringly at Aziraphale. When finally even the desert was nothing but sweet memory, Aziraphale dabbed his mouth with a napkin, sighed satisfied and turned to Crowley with the words: “That was wonderful. I think, I fancy an evening stroll now. Care to join me?”

The ‘yea’ coming from the demons lips sounded oddly soft, almost dazed. Gabriel made a mental note of that, as he hurried to follow them in a safe distance. The evening stroll turned out to simply be a rinse and repeat of the dinner minus the food and wine. Still Gabriel watched it all with Hawk’s eyes, his focus never leaving the demon Crowley and making mental notes of every minute gesture he made in reaction to anything Aziraphale did.

Eventually the two of them sat down on a bench in a park, falling into companionable silence.

Gabriel was confused. This was the tenth time, he had tailed them on one of their dates and he was still not quite understanding what was going on, or rather his one-track-mind was still too set on a different course to fully grasp the situation.

Ever since he read that notice about their first date, he couldn’t stop worrying about it. Sure, despite all that has happened, Aziraphale hadn’t fallen yet. The fact that Gabriel still got notified of every miracle Aziraphale did, was more than enough proof of that. But being in a relationship with a demon still sounded very dangerous. Demons were unreliable and untrustworthy. What if Crowley broke Aziraphale’s heart? Or worse even, what if he had set this all up in order to tempt Aziraphale into falling. By the time his mind had reached that conclusion his thoughts spiralled completely out of control and Gabriel managed to convince himself, that it was absolutely necessary for him to observe Aziraphale’s dating life to assure the demon Crowley would not commit unspeakable horrors to the way-too-soft-for-his-own-good principality.

But now, ten dates in, Gabriel had yet to witness  _ anything _ unspeakable, or at the very least something hard to talk about, let alone slightly awkward to mention. The worst Gabriel could see was that Crowley’s indulgent behavior seemed to tempt Aziraphale into repeatedly indulging in things like unnecessary food-consumption and excessive promenading. But was it really temptation? Somehow that did not seem to be the right term for what he was witnessing. Lost in thought, Gabriel chewed on his lower-lip, as he tried to wrap his head around a concept that seemed so foreign to him he didn’t even have a word for it.

“I believe, the word you are looking for is ‘pampering’, Gabriel”, Michael said, suddenly standing to Gabriel’s left. Had he not conveniently forgotten to turn on his body-functions before coming down to earth, they would have surely given him a heart-attack. Gabriel needed a few seconds to recover from the shock - two of them reserved for checking on whether or not Aziraphale and Crowley had noticed them, which they didn’t, thank goodness.

“Michael, I-... I wasn’t aware, you- What are you doing here?” Gabriel was very proud, that he didn’t sound in the slightest bit hysterical, as he pulled the other archangel further back into the shadows, whispering to them.

Michael looked at him with a calm expression, not in the slightest perturbed by his secretive behavior. “I am checking on you, of course”, they answered with a tone, that made it clear they were surprised, Gabriel hadn’t figured that out yet.   
“You are-? Why?”   
“While Raphael is right about the fact, that your reasons for doing this do not need to concern me, I still cannot help but feel a bit of unease.”

Gabriel felt a heavy lump settle in his stomach. Did they disapprove? Of course, they would disapprove. Gabriel was clearly acting against the agreement and that could cause serious problems for the Heavenly Host and-

“I was worried, you were going to make yourself sad again.”

Gabriel’s spiralling thoughts came to a screeching halt, crashing against the inside of his skull with such force, the incredulous “What?” that was being pushed out from it, didn’t have any time to make itself presentable and therefore sounded rather squeaky, when it fell from his lips.

Michael’s expression softened and the heavy lump in Gabriel’s guts twisted violently at the sight.

“We know how much you care for the Principality Aziraphale. You have always tried your best at raising him well. The most recent events… it was hard to see you dealing with them. We- I had hoped, not having to see Aziraphale any longer would give you time to recover from it. But now, you are deliberately seeking him out, instead. Of course, that had me worried you-”

“No!”, Gabriel cut off Michael’s explanation, partly because they got it all wrong and partly, because if he heard them talk anymore of that, he was at serious risk of crying again.

“No, it isn’t like that. I have no- I do not do this, because of Aziraphale.”

Michael’s face was a monument of disbelief. Gabriel sighed and ran a hand through his hair in a nervous habit.   
“Well no, I am, but not in the way you think. I am here to keep an eye on Crowley.”   
“The demon? Why him?”   
“Because… because Aziraphale clearly  _ loves _ him. And he is a demon. Demons are sly creatures, that selfishly take advantage of any weakness you show them and-”

“Ohhhh”, Michael hummed and an odd little smile appeared on their lips, “I see how it is. In that case I shall not distract you from your honorable duty any further. Please continue to assure, that our wayward Principality is not being taken advantage of by the serpent.”

And in a flash of heavenly fire Michael disappeared, leaving Gabriel even more confused than before. Whatever was that about!?

Sudden movement behind him drew his attention back to the topic at hand. Aziraphale suddenly sat up and completely unrelatedly said: “Well. It is getting rather late, isn’t it?” As if it was a magic spell word, Crowley immediately reacted by slowly rising from the bench and asking: “Want me to walk you home, angel?”

The smile Aziraphale gave Crowley at that could only be described as dazzling. “That’s very kind of you, my dear.” And with that the two began strolling down the streets that would lead to Aziraphale’s bookshop. A part of Gabriel’s mind wondered idly, if they would be holding hands this time. That same part was making rather undignified noises of glee, when half an hour later Aziraphale did indeed take Crowley’s hand in his, causing the demon to nearly fall over his own feet for a moment. Gabriel knew this path very well, considering that these two had been walking it at the end of every single one of their dates so far. So he also knew what would come next. Crowley would drop Aziraphale off at his bookshop. Aziraphale would thank him for this lovely evening. They would continue to stand there for another five minutes, gazing at one another until one of them - usually Crowley - wished the other good night and they parted for the night.

Gabriel was so used to this by now, that his attention began to drift off and he momentarily forgot about his surroundings. His attention snapped back however, when an angry voice disturbed the quiet of the night rather suddenly. An obviously intoxicated man in his mid-forties was crossing the street while yelling angrily, heading straight for Aziraphale and Crowley. Gabriel did not quite understand what the fuss was about - in part, because this man was slurring horribly - but what he gathered was, that he somehow took offense to the sight of them holding hands. What an odd thing to be offended about.

Aziraphale - sweet, soft Aziraphale tried to diffuse the situation by raising his free hand in a pacifying gesture. “My good sir”, he said in his friendliest voice, “It is rather late, don’t you think? Wouldn’t it be better, if you went home and-”

“Shut’r mouth, y’stupid, fat fag!”, the man yelled. Aziraphale’s face fell instantly, hurt being clearly written on his features. Crowley noticed immediately, and in an instinctive need to protect Aziraphale’s happiness, he braced himself for starting a fight, he wasn’t even sure he could win, considering that this man was twice his size in every aspect.

But he did barely come as far as “Oi, watch your mouth, you-” before a loud thunderclap was followed by a blinding lightning bolt, striking right where the angry man had stood. The pair stared in shocked silence, at the still slightly smoking heap of ashes before them, that once used to be a very angry human.

“…Crowley-”

“ _ Shit, angel, I swear that wasn’t me!”  _

-

Michael looked up from the reports, they were reading, when they heard a familiar pair of shoes hurrying down the halls. They left their desk to catch up with Gabriel, before he could disappear in his own office again.

“Was your observation mission successful?”, they asked, sounding almost eager.

Gabriel looked at them a little frazzled, his mind scrambling to return to the present in order to answer the question. “No- I mean, yes-... I mean… there had been no taking advantage happening whatsoever. All is well.”

They had that odd smile again, as they said: “Good. Let me know, should that ever change.” And with that, they turned and went back to their own office. Gabriel didn’t even have the presence of mind to wonder about that. His mind was racing. He was still somewhat shaken up from what he had just done. So far he had only been quietly observing under the pretense of assuring that Aziraphale wasn’t being taken advantage of. But this just now- He didn’t understand what had come over him. He had just seen Aziraphale’s face fall and that hurt in his eyes had turned the cold ball in his guts into a violent fire and he had reacted before he could even think about it. He had overstepped a line. He needed to get to his desk as fast as possible. So he could fix this, before anyone else became aware of it. With his mind set on this goal Gabriel entered his office... and froze in the middle of the room.

“Funny, this here says: ‘Gabriel sent lightning to smite a homophobic man in his mid-forties, before he could ruin Aziraphale’s date’“ Raphael’s voice was a lazy drawl, as he read the small miracle-note lying accusingly in the middle of Gabriel’s desk. The Archangel of the East, was sitting on said desk, his legs dangling idly over the edge, body turned towards the door. He lifted his head to regard Gabriel with a raised eyebrow. “Do you have any idea, how much paperwork it’ll be for me to cover that up?”

Gabriel’s mind went blank. He was found out. This was it. He would surely have to face consequences for this transgression. He had finally gone too far in his need to protect Aziraphale. He would-

“Stop that!”

Raphael’s sharp voice cut through the turmoil in Gabriel’s head. The other archangel was looking at him with unbridled worry.

“Listen. All I’m trying to say is, you got to be more careful. And stop doing this alone.”   
Gabriel must have looked rather confused - which is entirely fair, because he  _ was _ very confused - because Raphael let out a long-suffering sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose, before he waved a hand that made the little note disappear.

“I’m not here, to get you in trouble, Gabriel. None of us wants that. We just worry for you. You have a habit of getting somewhat… obsessed with a thought, running head first into a wall, because you do not stop for long enough to think about how to make a turn.”

He offered Gabriel a lopsided grin. “A wave, once set in motion, can only be stopped by a high enough cliff, it can crash against”, he said, in reference to the element Gabriel was naturally governing.

Gabriel shifted uneasily. “Then… what do you want me to do?”   
“Talk”, Raphael said, in a tone one would use for explaining a hard to grasp concept to very young child, “I want you to talk with us. You are not the only one responsible for this party here. We are all in this and - quite frankly - we’re tired of watching you work yourself raw in an attempt to protect us all. Even Aziraphale-...  _ especially  _ Aziraphale.”

Raphael slid from the desk and walked up to the other archangel, until he could reach out and gently squeeze Gabriel’s arm.

“We know how much it hurt you to let him go. But this is not going to resolve anything. If you wish to support this romantic pursuit of his, just give the word and we’ll send the memo out. But stop trying to try doing it all on your own. It’s scary to watch you punish yourself again and again.”

“I agree”, Sandalphon’s soft voice in his back, made Gabriel turn on his heels. The shorter archangel stood in the still open office door, flanked by Uriel and Michael. They all looked at Gabriel with open, honest worry. But the worst was the deep sadness in Sandalphon’s eyes.

“When you are like this”, he said quietly, “Your mind leaves for places, that I- that we cannot follow. And-... and you promised me, you would never leave us behind.”

“Do not worry about Crowley”, Michael said in an assuring voice, “Me and Uriel will have a productive conversation with him, about the benefits of not taking advantage of Aziraphale’s niceness.”

“And of the punishment”, Uriel picked up the string of conversation, “That awaits him, should he not heed our advice.”

Smiling faintly, Sandalphon offered: “I think, the humans call that ‘talking about shovels’.”

Later Gabriel would ask Sandalphon, what that all had to do with shovels. Later even he would ask Michael, how their conversation went and congratulate Uriel on startling the demon so much, he dropped an entire wine bottle and forgot to make it disappear before it shattered on the ground. Much, much later he would ask Raphael to help him write a letter, in which he requests a meeting with Aziraphale at which he could have the chance to introduce his romantic partner to the Heavenly host.

All that and more would happen later.

But in this moment, Gabriel was too overcome with emotions - grief, relieve, gratitude and deep, deep love for his brethren - to do anything, but cling to Sandalphon’s coat, as he cried into his shoulder, kept safe and warm in the collective embrace of the other archangels.


End file.
